Ornamental eyelet and article ornamented therewith



W. HUGHES .Iqly 23, 1929.

ORNAMENTAL EYELET AND'ARTICLE ORNAMENTED THEREWITH Filed Mardh 27, 1928 @2 tan a Patented July 23, 1929.

rr s WILLIAM HUGHES, or .TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO uNITnnsHoE MA- CHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ORNAMENTAL ureter AND ARTICLE ,onuaivrnurnn krnnnnwrrn.

' Application filed'M-areh 27, 1928. serial no. 265,180.

"This invention relates to eyelets, and more particularly to eyelets whose, ornamental ape pearance contributes substantially to their utility. It is herein illustrated in its application to a shoe, although it is to be understood that it is not limited to shoes.

Eyelets as heretofore made have been provided with solid flanges that are arranged to lie (excepting invisible eyelets) 'on the outer surface of a shoe upper, belt or other article of manufacture to which they may be applied. It is desirable that eyelets applied to many articles of manufacture should have an ornamental effect. This is commonly the case with eyelets applied to shoesand belts, asto which there isa considerable demand for fancy eyelets and for novel ornamental effects produced thereby;

Accordingly an object of this invention is 0 to provide an improved eyelet adapted to produce a novel and artistic efiect when applied to a shoe, belt or other article.

A novel feature of the invention consists in an eyelet having a flange provided with one or more ornamental perforations through which a panel or panels of the eyelet-receiving material of a shoe, belt or other article will be visible when the eyelet'is applied to such-material. Thus, while the perforations produce a novel ornamental effect, the panels of eyelet-receiving material visible through said perforations accentuate'that efiect. The composite article thus produced is another feature of the invention. The novel orna mented by contrastive effects according to the colors and finishes of the eyelet flanges and of the eyelet-receiving"materials against which they lie.

Again, the perforations in the eyelet flanges cause the flanges to appear l ghter and more graceful than they would otherwise. Accord mental efl'ect thus produced may be supple-' clenched eyelet the flange of which is arranged'on a surface of the material'and has one or more ornamental perforations into which panels of the eyeletreceiving material protrude andlin' which they simulate the appearance of inlays. This effect dispels the appearanceof thickness of the flange which, as shown, is flat and as thin as it may be consistently'wi'th the strength required of it, so that the panels will appear to be, and in some cases will actually be, flush with the outer surface of the flange. i

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a frontal perspective View of a shoe fitted with eyelets embodying the present inventl-on; a

Fig. 2 is a cross-section, enlarged to slight ly more than three diameters, of one of said eyelets clenched in a portion of ashoe upper;

Fig. 3 is a face View of a portion of a shoe quarter fitted with such eyelets, the area representing the quarter being stippled to eX- emplify a visual contrast between the eyelets anal the material to which they are applied; an

1 Fig. ,4 is a perspective view of an unclenched eyelet of the type shown in the other ii gurgs, the scale being about equal to that of The upper of the shoe illustrated in Fig.1 comprises quarters 10, 10 formed with edges 12, 12 to provide a lacing slit or opening. Each quarter is provided with a row of eyelets ll adjacentto its edge 12 to receive a lacing. Fig. 2, the scale of which .is enlarged to about three diameters, illustrates a typical example. of the eyelet-receiving material of a mans shoe, the several layers of material therein shown being an outer layer 16 of leather, an eyelet stay 18 of woven fabric and an inner facing .or lining 20 of leather. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention .is not limited to the make-up" or combination of'layers 16, 18 and 20 of the eyelet-receiving material's shown in Fig. 2.

The novel eyelets shown in the-drawings are m'adeof'uncoated ductile metal, for eX- ample, brass, but for certain desirable contrasts between eyelets and eyelet-receiving material the eyelets may be provided with anyone of a variety of finishes such as a coating of nickel-plate or enamel of any desired color. In the illustrated example each eyelet comprises a square barrel 22 and a circular flange 24, the flange having four ornamental perforations 26 of segmental shape symmetrically arranged in a circular series and shaped to conform to and harmonize with the square configuration of the barrel and the circular configuration of the flange. The invention is not limited, however, to the configurations shown, norto'the illustrated shape or arrangement of the perforations 26.

- The barrels 22 are inserted through the eyelet-receiving material from the outer side of the latter so that the flanges 24 will lie on the outer or I obverse surface 28 of said material. Thus, when the eyelets are applied to materials of the kinds above mentioned,

withthe degree of pressure commonly applied by eyelet-inserting machines, the inner ends of the barrels will be clenched tightly as shown at 30 in Fig. 2 and the flanges 24 will be embedded in the surface 28, since the perforations 26 permit the flanges to sink appreciably into said surface.

Panels 32 of the eyelet-receiving material are not only visible through the perforations 26 but they protrude more or less into said perforationsaccording to the pressure with which the eyelets are clenched and according to the resilience or softness of the eyeletreceiving material that engages the flanges. However, whether the degree of protrusion is much or little, the protrusion dispels the appearance of thickness; of the flanges and causes the panels to simulate inlays. The flanges 24 of the illustrated eyelets are flat and as thin as they may be consistently with the strength required of them. Consequently, they do not project appreciably above the surface 28 when they are applied with thedegree of clenching pressure commonly used with non perforated eyelets. In some cases, for example, when eyelets of this type are applied to softer materials such as velvet, suede and kid, the panels 32 may protrude to, and even beyond, the planes of the obverse surfaces of the flanges 24. The perforations 26 reduce the area of contact between the.

flanges and the contacting material so that a given degree of clenching pressure will cause deeper embedding of the flanges than that possible with unperforated flanges of corresponding size.

The ornamental effects of the panels 32 upon the flanges 24 are susceptible of many tion to some edge, line or configurationof the eyelet-receiving material. For example, in .the case of .a shoe of the type illustrated it is preferable to insert the eyelets so that the perforations will be uniformly arranged relativelyto the edges 12 of the lacingslit.

Consistently with this consideration the noncircular configuration .of the barrels 22 may be..advantageously used to insure uniform disposition of the perforations by employing an eyelet-inserting machine equipped with an eyelet-engaging spindle of noncircular cross-section conforming to the configuration ofthe interior'of the barrels 22. Atypical example of a noncircu'lar spindle suitable for dealing with this problem is illustrated in U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,008,036 granted to me November 7, 1911. As shown in that patent the spindle is provided with an eyelet-engaging portion of square cross-section and is prevented from turning relatively to the pressure-applying member or setting tool with which it iscombined, so that an eyelet having a barrel of square cross-section will be maintained by the spindle in a predetermined position when it is inserted into the eyelet-receiving material.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters- Patent of the United'States is: v

1. An eyelet having a barrel .and a flange provided with one or more ornamental perforations through which panels of eyelet-receiving material will be visible when the eyelet is inserted in such material.

2..An article of manufacture provided with one or more clenched eyelets each having a flange lying against a surface of the eyelet-receiving material of the article, said surface and: said flange having contrasting appearances and said flange having one or more ornamental perforations through which panels of the eyelet-receiving material are visible to accentuate the ornamental effectof said perforations.

3. An .article of manufacture having eyelet-receiving material provided with one or more tightly clenched eyelets the flanges of which lie against a surface of said material and are thin and flat, the flange of each eyelet having one or more perforations through which ornamental panels of the eyelet-receiving material are visible and appear to be substantially in the plane of the outer face of the flange.

4. An article of manufacture comprising eyelet-receiving material having a resilient surface and provided with a tightly clenched eyelet the flange of which is arranged on said resilient surface, said flange having one or more ornamental perforations into which panels of the eyelet-receiving material pro- 10 trude and in which they simulate the appearance of inlays.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification WILLIAM HUGHES. 

